PICTURES FROM A LIBRARY

christina rossetti Photographic portrait of Christina Rossetti by Elliott and Fry, albumen print for carte de visite, c. 1870s, 2⅛" × 3½". Reproduced by courtesy of the University Librarian and Director, The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester.

‘How public like a frog’: a portrait of Christina Rossetti It is Christina Rossetti who looks out at us from this photograph by Elliott and Fry – a carte de visite recently discovered hidden amongst the pages of a book of her poetry, A Pageant and other poems, in the John Rylands Library, Manchester.

The only Sister of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Rossetti sought obscurity for many years, though she couldn’t help illuminating this with her poetry. In 1875 she inexplicably succumbed to the pressures of celebrity portraiture. So here she sits, in middle age, holding a book which I imagine is a book of verse: ‘Yes,’ she seems to say, ‘I am a poet… all I care for you to know is here. Behold this green volume. It is a copy of my collected works. It costs four shillings and sixpence. Read That.’

stella halkyard REPORTS

CONTENTS

inside cover: Stella Halkyard Pictures from a Library: Christina Rossetti

2 Editorial 3 News & Notes 6 Letters from Roger Caldwell, Elaine Feinstein

Neil Powell 7 A Sense of Belonging Alexander Goehr 8 Composing Settings for Texts by Gabriel Levin

Sam Adams 9 Letter from Wales Michael Glover 11 From the Latest Bow-Wow Shop Frank Kuppner 13 In Search of Lost Space

POEMS

ARTICLES

Peter McDonald 15 Hymn to Aphrodite

Fleur Adcock 27 Testators

John Gallas 34 pacifictions Ned Denny 46 Three Poems André Naffis-Sahely 50 Two Poems

Hugo Williams 54 Six Poems

Eve Grubin 58 Two Poems Nicholas Friedman 59 Four Poems

Caroline Clark 60 Three Poems

Dan Burt 65 Three Sonnets on the Coup de Grâce Elaine Feinstein 66 Three Poems

Nina Bogin 67 Two Poems

Rhian Williams 21 Gossip in Eden: Auden’s Prose Gregory O’Brien 29 A Letter from Oceania

Yves Bonnefoy 37 from Rue Traversière et autres récits en rêve

(translated by Beverley Bie Brahic)

Chris Miller 40 In Conversation with Yves Bonnefoy Iain Bamforth 47 Catchwords 14 Marilyn Hacker 51 Letter from Paris Gregory Woods 55 Je est beaucoup d’autres: Hide/Seek

Jonathan D. Katz and David C. Ward 57 A Reply to Gregory Woods

Andrew Waterman 61 ‘This Will Never Do’: Recklessness in Great Poetry

REVIEWS

Andrew Shanks 68 on Rilke

Tara Bergin 69 on Vasko Popa Tabish Khair 69 on Modern Poetry of Pakistan Vidyan Ravinthiran 70 on Arun Kolatkar

Stephen Ross 71 on Peter Gizzi

Peter Riley 72 on Roy Fisher Ian Brinton 74 on Anthony Barnett Ben Hickman 74 on Robert Sheppard Judy Kendall 75 on The Red Sweet Wine of Youth Ruth Hawthorn 77 on The Grief of Influence Eleanor Spencer 78 on Voyages Over Voices

79 Some Contributors

Cover image: Gregory O’Brien, In Anticipation of Seamounts, Flying Fish, 2011. Acrylic on canvas, 610 × 460 mm.

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central books ltd, 99 Wallis Road, London e9 5ln email magazines@centralbooks.com Copyright © 2012 poetry nation review

All rights reserved issn 0144-7076 isbn 978 1 84777 173 5

General Editor michael schmidt Co-ordinating Editor helen tookey News & Notes Editor eleanor crawforth editorial address: Michael Schmidt Department of English University of Glasgow 5 University Gardens

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